A Tragic Change Just One Year Has Made in America
Twelve months back, the landscape was entirely separate. Before the US presidential election, thoughtful Americans could recognize America's serious imperfections – its inequities and imbalance – however they could still perceive it as the United States. A democratic nation. A land where legal governance held significance. A country led by a dignified and upright leader, notwithstanding his elderly years and increasing frailty.
Currently, in late October 2025, numerous citizens hardly identify the nation we live in. Individuals suspected of being undocumented migrants are collected and shoved into transport, at times refused legal rights. The left side of the presidential residence – is undergoing demolition for an obscene dance hall. The president is targeting his opponents or supposed enemies and insisting legal authorities surrender a huge total of taxpayer money. Armed military personnel are dispatched to US urban areas on false pretexts. The military command, renamed the Department of War, has practically freed itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny while it uses what could amount to almost one trillion dollars from citizen taxes. Universities, attorney offices, news companies are yielding from leader's menaces, and wealthy elites are handled as nobility.
“The United States, only a few months ahead of its 250th birthday as the globe's top democratic nation, has fallen over the brink into authoritarianism and fascism,” a noted author, stated this past summer. “Finally, faster than I imagined possible, it did happen here.”
Every morning starts amid recent atrocities. And it is challenging to understand – and agonizing to acknowledge – just how far gone our nation is, and the rapid pace with which it unfolded.
Nevertheless, we understand that the president was properly voted in. Following his profoundly alarming first term and even after the warnings that came with the awareness of Project 2025 – following the president personally said publicly he would be a dictator just on day one – a majority of citizens selected him instead of Kamala Harris.
As terrifying as the present situation may be, it's more daunting to recognize that we’re only three-quarters of a year into this presidential term. How will another 36 months of this deterioration position us? And what if that timeframe turns into a more extended duration, because there is nobody to restrain this ruler from deciding that a third term is necessary, maybe for defense purposes?
Granted, not everything is hopeless. We will have legislative votes in 2026 that could bring a different political equilibrium, in case Democrats recapture either chamber of parliament. We have public servants who are trying to exert a degree of oversight, such as Democratic congressmen currently starting a probe regarding the effort to cash appropriation from legal authorities.
And a presidential election in 2028 could initiate the path to healing just as the previous vote set us on this unfortunate course.
There exist countless citizens demonstrating in public spaces throughout communities, similar to recent last weekend at democracy demonstrations.
An ex-cabinet member, stated lately that “the great sleeping giant of America is stirring”, just as it did after the Communist witch-hunt era in the 1950s or throughout anti-war demonstrations or throughout the Nixon controversy.
In those instances, the tilting vessel ultimately corrected itself.
The author states he knows the signs of that revival and observes it occurring at present. For proof, he points to the large-scale demonstrations, the extensive, cross-party resistance against a television host's removal and the almost universal rejection by reporters to sign military mandates they report only what is sanctioned.
“The sleeping giant consistently stays inactive until certain corruption turns extremely harmful, a particular deed so contemptuous of the common good, certain violence so loud, that it has no choice but to awaken.”
It's a positive outlook, and I appreciate the author's seasoned opinion. Perhaps he will turn out correct.
Meanwhile, the big questions remain: is the US able to regain its footing? Can it reclaim its status internationally and its adherence to legal principles?
Or do we need to admit that the 250-year-old experiment functioned for a period, and then – swiftly, totally – ended?
My pessimistic brain tells me that the final scenario is correct; that everything could be lost. My optimistic spirit, though, convinces me that we need to strive, by any means available.
For me, as an observer of the press, that’s about pushing media professionals to adhere, more thoroughly, to their mission of overseeing leadership. For some people, it could mean participating in congressional campaigns, or planning demonstrations, or discovering methods to protect voting rights.
Under twelve months back, we were in a very different place. In the future? Or three years from now? The reality is, we don’t know. Our sole course is to strive to not give up.
What Provides Me Encouragement Today
The interaction I experience with students with young journalists, who are both visionary and grounded, {always
